Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Many people consider the penny an insignificant amount with no buying power.

In 1992, Samaritan unleashed the power of the penny with its first Penny Campaign. This effort for increasing awareness of hunger and homelessness in our backyard while raising money for Samaritan has become a community event.

The annual Penny Campaign is Samaritan’s major fundraiser. Beginning October 1st and continuing through November, schools, churches, families, individuals, civic organizations and corporations across the Triad, all join in saving their pennies and spare change for the Samaritan Soup Kitchen and Inn.

The Penny Campaign collection day is held the first Saturday in December. All unrolled collected coins are dropped off at the Thruway Center in Winston-Salem. It’s a fun filled day with WXII’s Cameron Kent and the Samaritan team. Jar stickers, posters and other marketing materials will be available July 2008.

Selected organizations (RMH is a selected organization!) have been invited to sell $5.00 Shop For A Cause passes on Saturday, September 20th. These passes allow shoppers to receive discounted purchases.

100% of every pass sold by a RMH volunteer goes to RMH!

We need volunteers to help! Volunteers must be at least 18 or have their legal guardian work with them. Last year it was a lot of fun – talking with shoppers and telling them about the Ronald McDonald House. We expect to have inflatable Ronald at our table, along with information about the House.

Ideally, we need three people per shift and the shifts are below:

10:00 am – 12:00 noon12:00 noon – 2:00 pm2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Please respond to Mindy Bloom, at the House {(336) 723-0228 x19; mindyb@rmhwinstonsalem.org} with your email address, shift preference, and cell number if you are interested. Mindy will confirm your shift via email.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Recently we had a Serving Our Generation event that was a little more intimate than some of our larger community efforts. A family in our community has not been able to make it to church because of medical situations, so we took the church to them.

Here's what happened: We believe that God honored our efforts by showing up. His presence was so sweet and refreshing to all of us.

They had been feeling down and not as close to God as they had felt in the past. They told us that they were encouraged by our visit and really appreciated us giving of our time to be with them.

We truly CAN make a difference in our community.

October's Serving Our Generation Event will be a Yard Sale at the Community Center, 1400 West Clemmonsville Road in Winston-Salem. If you have items that you would like to bring or if you are interested in helping on Saturday, October 4th, please contact me.